Senator Tammy Duckworth Meets with South Shore Chamber of Commerce

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) recently met with the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and local business owners to hear their concerns on small businesses resources. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) recently met with the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and local business owners to hear their concerns on small businesses resources. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth

Senator Tammy Duckworth Meets with South Shore Chamber of Commerce

By Christopher Shuttlesworth

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) recently met with the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and local business owners to hear

their concerns on small businesses resources and discussed her future legislative priorities.

Tonya Trice, who is the Executive Director of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, said due to the upcoming Obama Presidential Center being added to the community, it is time to leverage resources on the local, state and federal levels.

“There are plenty of opportunities available in South Shore, we just need resources,” she said.

During the meeting, Trice explained that from 47th Street to 95th Street, almost a billion dollars annually leaves the Black community.

“We have lost over 200,000 South Shore residents, but we’re hoping to recapture the revenue and re-invest it back into the community and create opportunities for people interested in future resources,” Trice said.

Duckworth currently serves on the United States Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation and the Environment & Public Works Committee. She also sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship to support small businesses, which Duckworth says “are the engines of the economy.”

Local entrepreneurs said there’s a strong need for potential business owners to gain more knowledge and resources to start their own businesses.

Trice said a lot of people don’t realize that the South Shore Chamber of Commerce provides small business owners with the essential skills necessary to start and grow a business.

“We could use more technical assistance to get the word out a little more, but we connect businesses to capital and teach them how to write a business or marketing plan,” Trice said. “We also teach banking skills, market research and how to negotiate a commercial lease.”

Recent reports, according to Trice, have shown that businesses which work with their local Chamber of Commerce save up to $3700 in their first year of business.

Duckworth highlighted that when she served as a Congresswoman, she conducted several seminars and training events where small

business administrations, banks and the local Chamber of Commerce trained entrepreneurs who were looking to start women and minority owned businesses, adding, the process of creating a business is tricky.

In the future, Duckworth pledged to hold additional seminars in the South Shore area on the local, state and federal levels.

For more information, visit https:// www.duckworth.senate.gov/ or http://www. southshorechamberinc.org/.

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